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Lets flip the coin for a moment. Supposing you had a 30 year old family member who wanted to die. The choice she gives you is, i'll hang myself or jump in front

Lets flip the coin for a moment. Supposing you had a 30 year old family member who wanted to die. The choice she gives you is, i'll hang myself or jump in front of a moving car.. or you can let me die with my family surrounding me peacefully. Would you do it? Note there is no mention of why she wants to die. If there is a cure or it can be fixed will you go along with it?

Thiez 10y ago
That seems like a rather unlikely scenario. People don't just decide they want to die on a whim. And it's not like in countries with legalized euthanasia you can just go to a doctor tomorrow morning, declare you're not feeling so well, and you'll be scheduled for termination later that afternoon. I for one would not assist in any suicide without knowing why someone wants to die, and given that my country has a process that allows for legal euthanasia, I'm not sure why your hypothetical family member would ask me to commit this crime rather than going through official channels, especially since we are apparently so estranged that I was completely unaware of her struggles and death wish until this request. The best I can do in your scenario is warn the authorities of the suicide risk, and recommend that she does not throw herself in front of a car or train, because it's so extremely inconsiderate towards the driver and/or passengers, and is that really the way you wish to go / be remembered? Oh, and perhaps recommend that if for whatever reason she does find the opportunity to kill herself, don't try to poison yourself unless you really know what you're doing. Killing yourself with an overdose of painkillers sounds like a really good idea at first, but it's likely that hanging yourself or cutting your wrists doesn't seem like such a bad way to go in hindsight, when you're dying of liver failure over the next few days.

Thiez 10y ago

That seems like a rather unlikely scenario. People don't just decide they want to die on a whim. And it's not like in countries with legalized euthanasia you can just go to a doctor tomorrow morning, declare you're not feeling so well, and you'll be scheduled for termination later that afternoon. I for one would not assist in any suicide without knowing why someone wants to die, and given that my country has a process that allows for legal euthanasia, I'm not sure why your hypothetical family member would ask me to commit this crime rather than going through official channels, especially since we are apparently so estranged that I was completely unaware of her struggles and death wish until this request. The best I can do in your scenario is warn the authorities of the suicide risk, and recommend that she does not throw herself in front of a car or train, because it's so extremely inconsiderate towards the driver and/or passengers, and is that really the way you wish to go / be remembered? Oh, and perhaps recommend that if for whatever reason she does find the opportunity to kill herself, don't try to poison yourself unless you really know what you're doing. Killing yourself with an overdose of painkillers sounds like a really good idea at first, but it's likely that hanging yourself or cutting your wrists doesn't seem like such a bad way to go in hindsight, when you're dying of liver failure over the next few days.